Naruto: The Hyuuga Intrigue
by The Weasel
Summary: Many years after the series, several ninja are hired to stop a potential muder of the Hyuuga successor. However, in a time of cultural change who is the true enemy? CH 5 finally up!
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the trademarked stuff from Naruto, I own the characters I made up, which are most of them This is a fanfiction sixty years after Naruto became a genin. If you can guess who the hokage is… yay for you. This is my first fanfic on FFN in awhile and I promise I'll finish it. Please R&R I put a lot of effort into it and I'd hate to see nobody reading it. Without further ado, the Weasel presents…

**NARUTO- THE HYUUGA INTRIGUE**

Chapter 1- Prologue

Few clouds floated across the vast blue canopy that stretched across the sky. Occasionally, the rustling of a few birds broke the calm that prevailed in the atmosphere, but not often. The sun was free to cast its golden rays onto the vibrant green trees. Slowly the trees began to bend and sway back and forth, almost appearing to dance, innocent in their ignorance of the events of the day.

A warm breeze rushed through the streets of Konoha, the now-empty streets. Everyone was at the meeting-place, where the Hokage stood old and firm as a redwood tree. He was a man of seventy two years, but he somehow still managed to look far younger; stocky, energetic, and well built. He had been a peaceful Hokage for more than a generation, but now he was getting ready to give a speech about why the village of the leaf was sending its sons to die. The Hokage cleared his throat:

"Citizens of Konoha! Listen to me, your Hokage, as I tell you of a great battle that occurred in our village 60 years ago last month. The invaders, underhanded and cunning, attacked during the Chuunin Exam and took even our vigilant guards by surprise. The whole city fought tooth and nail to repel those who would destroy our town. Even I, in my first large battle, vanquished one of our most powerful foes.

"That day, we showed the true power of the Konoha people, that fire that burns in us even while we're in our darkest times, because on that day our beloved third Hokage was killed. He was someone whom I connected to closely, because he believed in me. He believed in us all, and even now he's looking down on us from heaven. He's still proud, even as we send our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, siblings and friends into another dangerous battle. He's still proud, because he knows that this is no petty Daimyo's dispute that we sacrifice our lives for. There is a major battle about to take place that may decide the future of the world."

The crowd was now absolutely silent, even the birdsongs had stopped. For a moment, one could have heard a pin drop anywhere in the meeting place, one could have heard the beating of a butterfly's wings in the brush. The Hokage's decision to help defend the Country of the Wind against the incursion of the Shan barbarians from the west without a confirmed pay contract won the support of the populace by a margin of only 5%. The stubborn Hokage decided to send 7/8 of the battle-ready ninja anyway, saying, "I'm the Hokage, and what I say goes!"

The main argument was that the sand had been fending off the Shan for as long as anyone could remember, that there was no need for charity when the Wind had fended for themselves for so long. The counter-argument was the rumored size of this incursion. Some estimates had reached that an army of 500,000 had almost reached the gates of the Kazekage's city. There were rumors that the sand country's regulars had been all but exterminated, and that after hundreds of years, the Kaze had finally run out of tricks. What ever they believed, Konoha's citizens now had to say goodbye to their brightest brethren.

"Nobody is saying, 'You must support this war.'" The Hokage continued. "Nobody loves fighting. Not even a shinobi. There's not much real glory in battle. The glory is in knowing that a sacrifice will be made to show that Konoha is willing to help defend the borders of civilization. This is what those Hokages are proud of. That no matter the outcome, the fire of this city will continue to burn. And to those about to leave, our hearts go with you, and we pray for your safe return." A cheer rose from the crowd. An hour later, the last of the Shinobi of Konoha walked through the gate, two by two, and the gates of the hidden city of the leaf were shut. 

Two by two, the shinobi trudged had only gone a few kilometers down the path leading to the faraway Country of Sand before they were being watched. Along the edge of the road, hidden in trees and shrubs, four sets of eyes peered out at the columns of warriors marching past. 

"182,184,186,188…" whispered a voice behind a clot of bushes, counting as they passed, "194, 196, 198, 200… What are all of these shinobi doing coming out of Konoha at once?"

"Don't know." Whispered another, on the other side of a tree-trunk, "But at least half of Konoha's ninja have gone by already. They're really emptying out."

"The city's going to be nearly undefended." whispered the first. Then a short pause, and more counting. "Two hundred fifty, sir… Hey, do you think it might be reinforcements headed for the Wind? I hear the Shan incursions have gotten really bad."

The second grunted. "It's possible. Now shut up until they've all passed."

After ten minutes, the column had finally passed out of sight. "Alright, guys, the coast is clear," said the second out loud, emerging from the bushes. He was a medium-height, lanky boy of about twenty. His black hair was spiked up, with just a few strands hanging over his forehead, touching his thick eyebrows. He wore a white tank top and black jeans, and on his back was a giant pack, out of the top of which bristled the hilts of at least thirty swords, and slung between his pack and his back was a giant Dai-Katana. His nickname was Toil.

"Come on guys," he called, "The coast is clear now."

The second whisperer emerged from the bushes. He wore his red hair in a short, knobby Mohawk. Not a particularly ugly guy, definitely a bit strange. He wore torn-up blue jeans and a leather jacket, studded in some places, with the character "Oni" scrawled in white-out in the back. He was well-built but not muscular, a little taller than the other but several years younger. He carried a beat-up suitcase. His nickname was Blood.

Two more young people jumped down from trees on opposite sides of a path. One was a petite girl of about 15 years, dressed in a black T-shirt and tight flannel pants with zippers all over and carried a black backpack on one shoulder, from which hung several throwing knives. She had short, chin length brown hair, an innocent face, and dazzling light blue eyes. Her nickname was Tears.

The other was a tall, muscular, very handsome guy about twenty years old. He wore his dirty blond hair short except for the bangs which almost reached his eyes, but hid it under a black fedora. He was dressed as if he were about to go to a fancy dinner, wearing black slacks, and a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He carried a sport-jacket in his right hand and a neat, business-style suitcase. He had hazel eyes and an ever-present smile. His name was Ken. His nickname was Sweat.

"Did you count all of those guys leaving Konoha?" Sweat asked Blood.

"Yeah," Blood responded, "there were 356."

"Never seen that many in one place in my life."

"Konoha's the biggest of the hidden villages." interjected Toil. "I was born there."

"You told us that." Blood responded, "So how long has it been since you left?"

"Since I left?" Toil asked thoughtfully. "Around six years. Since I last visited? Two years. Sweat was there."

"That I was." Ken confirmed. "It's a nice place. You'll like it. I heard the scene's gotten pretty good in the past year or so."

"Cool." Blood grinned. 

The four turned and began a march of their own toward Konoha. There were no words exchanged between them for awhile, because they were all thinking the same thing. The fewer ninja there were, the more work there was for the four of them: Assassin Squad Oni.

Some time passed, and as the sun came close to setting, the walls of Konoha came closer and closer. Blood became bored, and decided to pick on Tears. "So what about you, Tears? Don't you have anything to say? Anything?"

Tears shook her head.

"Nothing, eh?"

"Nothing." She said.

Tears wasn't much of a talker. She had told the other three almost nothing about herself since she had joined up with them three months ago. Blood was the one who wanted to know her the most. He had a big crush on her. She was a weird girl, though. Unlike most girls she didn't appear to have any interest in boys, not even Ken, who was irresistible to normal girls. This made Blood even more interested in her.

More time passed, but Blood didn't really seem to realize. He had been "deep in thought". 

"Hey, Blood, snap out of it," Toil elbowed him in the ribs. "We're here."

The gates of Konoha loomed overhead. Blood was impressed. One guard stood on each side of the gate. "Who are you guys?" One asked.

"Just a few kids, traveling around." They showed him identification.

"Alright," he said, motioning to open the gate, "Enjoy your stay here in Konoha."

Slowly the gates swung open, and the four youth walked in, not knowing that those walls would wrap them in trouble soon enough.


	2. Naruto

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the trademarked stuff from Naruto, I own the characters I made up, which are most of them. If you guessed who the hokage is… yay for you. The story starts to heat up here. Please R&R I put a lot of effort into it and I'd hate to see nobody reading it. Without further ado, the Weasel presents…

**NARUTO: THE HYUUGA INTRIGUE**

Chapter 2: Naruto

            The Hokage looked out the window of his room in the palace, watching the gates close.  He had been having strange dreams lately, dreams about people he knew that belonged to the Hyuuga bloodline dying.  Last night in a dream he had seen every Hyuuga he had ever met, those now alive and those now dead, killing each other off in the streets of Konoha.  He was forced to watch as they fought so bitterly that they didn't even care to use the Gentle Hand style.  They fought desperately and barbarically, biting and scratching each other, tearing off flesh and being spattered with blood.  Then something fell from the sky, swirling and twisting, a great tornado except more like a solid stream of air.  Rain began pouring down, lightning set buildings on fire and struck down people where they stood, the Hokage couldn't even bear to watch.  As the huge tornado hit the ground, there was a huge explosion of force that knocked him down. When he got up and looked around, he saw nothing. No houses, no people. Nothing.

            "Dreams are stupid!" he thought aloud. "Why should I listen to that dream? The Hyuuga are fine. I know them, I married one damn it.  They're going to name a successor next month.  Everything is going to be fine as long as that little jerk Kamui doesn't show up."  The Hokage knew that that wasn't precisely true.  The only person who could stir up trouble in the Hyuuga family was Hyuuga Kamui, who had left more than ten years ago in a fit of adolescent angst to escape being the head of the powerful family.  That was only the first bit of trouble to befall the Hyuuga family in the last decade.  Five years after that, his younger brother was killed during a dangerous mission on foreign soil.  Then the family has had to wait another five years to nominate his wife's third nephew as successor of the head family.  

            "In fact," the Hokage thought, their bad luck had begun when my wife and I didn't have a son with the Byakugan."  He chuckled, but he knew that he was right.  "I would have raised him with a sense of responsibility, and taught him the importance of frugality.  That nephew of mine couldn't save a single Yen, it's no wonder nobody likes him, and his son Tenshi doesn't do anything but throw parties."  He realized what a bad situation the Hyuuga family was now in.  Since the branch family had begun to despise the Head family because of this, there would certainly be trouble if a pretender to the succession turned up, and the Hokage knew that Kamui was just the type to do it.

            It couldn't happen at a worse time.  The Hokage had completely forgotten about the Hyuuga's ceremony when he had sent nearly all of his ninja.  Although Kamui had been a rebel like Tenshi, he certainly hadn't been as lazy.  If Kamui returned, he would do it _en force_ with a private army, or cunningly by hiring assassins.  "Kuso!" sputtered the Hokage. "Why hadn't I thought of that earlier?"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  "Is something wrong, honey?" It was his wife.

"Hinata," he called, "please come in."

The door creaked open and in walked the Hokage's wife, Hyuuga Hinata.  "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"I'm having this huge anxiety attack!" Naruto blithered. "About your family, about the succession."

"Well what about it?  What could possibly be wrong?"

"I have this itching suspicion that Kamui is going to come back next week!"

"Kamui _is_ coming back.  What's wrong with that?"

This disturbed Naruto.  "He _is_ coming?  Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I did tell you a few weeks ago but…"

"How could you not remind me, Hinata? He's… He's dangerous! I would have kept more ninja in town if I knew he was coming!"

"Well, Naruto…" squeaked Hinata, "I did remind you but…"

"And furthermore, Hinata, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he showed up with his own private army and threatened to kill you all if you didn't pass him the succession!"

"Naruto-sama, please listen to me!" Hinata said rather loudly.

"Okay! Okay! Sheesh, Hinata you don't have to be like that."

"My nephew is a good boy. He may be a bit of a rebel, but he is a true Hyuuga.  He has a sense of honor, Naruto. He would never do anything like that. Besides, he left because he wanted to get away from the family.  Why would he decide to take back the position he went through so much to get out of?"

"Because he is dangerous." Said Naruto, turning away and putting his hands on his hips.

"No he isn't, Naruto." Hinata was starting to get angry. "He is my favorite nephew. I know him well. He couldn't do something like that." 

            Naruto turned around, and Hinata changed her face to that little pout that always won him over.  She had grown old gracefully, and still looked about ten or fifteen years younger than she was.  She was no longer the young woman who had worked so hard to make Naruto fall in love with her.  Naruto, however, could still be taken for a man of forty-five, and he knew that it was because of the charka of an immortal Demon which had also allowed him to outlive most of his generation.  He would not have Hinata much longer, and whenever she broke into that little pout Naruto remembered that and only wanted to make Hinata happy while he could, in every little way.

"Alright Hinata," Naruto conceded, "I guess I should at least give him the benefit of the doubt." He didn't really feel that way, though.

"I know you don't trust him, and I don't blame you," Hinata cooed, embracing Naruto, "but it's nothing to get worked up over like this.  Now, please find something else to think about. Please excuse me." Hinata kissed Naruto on the cheek and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

"Ugh," grunted Naruto, "I just can't let him run around like that. If only I had extra ninjas that weren't defending the city… about four would do.  Don't I have even four extra ninja?"  Naruto went into his filing cabinet.

            As the Hokage was looking for four shinobi with nothing to do, four shinobi with nothing to do were looking for a Hokage.  Blood, Toil, Sweat, and Tears walked slowly through the bustling city, towards the palace.  Every once in awhile they found a poster for a local rock show and read the date and time. No well-known bands had this place on their list just yet.  Every once in a while, they'd spot a group of several punky kids and enthusiastically raise their right fists and shout "OI! OI! OI!" and swell with pride as the kids did the same.  As the four assassins passed one group friends, however, someone noticed the character on Blood's jacket and called out:

"Hey, aren't you Blood?"

            The Oni turned around, and Blood acknowledged. "Yeah that's me." The pod of punky kids walked up to them, and the speaker bowed a bit and extended his hand to Oni's most famous member.  Blood did the same, and shook his hand. He was a short guy, about 15, with short light brown hair spiked out in all directions and the weirdest pink eyes.  He was dressed in a light red flannel jacket, a black shirt, and green army pants. He also had the trademark Konoha headband.

"Someone else who can rawk and fight, I see." Blood remarked, observing the headband.

"That's me." said the kid. 

"A Hyuuga, eh?" asked Toil.

The kid laughed, "Not just a Hyuuga, my friend, I'm the proud successor of the Hyuuga bloodline, Tenshi Hyuuga."

"What if we were here to kill you?" asked Toil, "You recognized the Oni character, so you know we're freelance assassins."

"You're Toil, aren't you?" inquired Tenshi, "You trained under the late Rock Lee, if I'm not mistaken, and you're from here."

"That's right."

"Then you should know I used the Byakugan on you before I even spoke to you."

Toil slapped his head. "How could I have been so dumb?"

Blood's interest peaked. "Byakugan? I've heard of that.  It gives you powers of insight, right?" Tenshi nodded. "So you know that we're just looking for work and checking out the scene right? Cool. So how did you hear about us?"

"Well your reputation precedes you." Tenshi said, "I heard that there was a group of assassin-shinobi-punks, who had a guy called Blood who used his own blood as a weapon, a non-chakra-user named Toil who was from around here, and a guy named Sweat who secreted a nasty poison through his skin."

"That's us," chuckled Sweat, topping his fedora two a pink haired, emo-looking girl.

"But I heard there were four guys." Spoke up one punk with an obnoxious rainbow Mohawk. "Who's the chick?"

"The other guy left awhile back." Toil explained. "This is Tears. We aren't exactly sure what she can do just yet.  We call her Tears because she cries every night."

"Interesting," said the guy, looking Tears up and down.

"What are you looking at?" Tears demanded, subtly readying a shuriken. The guy raised his eyebrows and mouthed something. "Piss off, creep!" shouted Tears, as she threw the shuriken and sliced off the kid's hair. Everyone laughed except him.

"Looks like it's time to go," said Tenshi. "We'll be seeing you."

"Sure," agreed Blood. "Bye!"

            The two groups parted ways, and the Oni continued on toward the palace.  It wasn't long until they reached it, and went inside. There were only a few people, including three Chuunin guards and two Jounin guards, but everyone's eyes were on the Oni.  Even the palace was badly protected. This made the assassins happy.  Sweat, who sort of had the role of manager, walked up to the reception desk. 

"Excuse me," he said, tipping his hat to the receptionist, "We'd like to see the Hokage.  Is he busy right now?"

"I'll check." She said.  She was about to dial on her phone, then she held the receiver up in the air near her head. "Who are you guys anyway? A rock band?"

"No," said Blood, "we're assassins." Suddenly, a kunai sliced the air, someone shouted "Get down!", and the room descended into chaos.  One of the Chuunin quickly ran up the stairs to alert Naruto. "Hokage-sama, we're under attack! There's been a battle in the lobby!"

            The Hokage and the Chuunin rushed to the stairs, where they surveyed the results. People were lying face down on the floor, hands over their heads.  One Jounin was squirming on the ground, his head under Blood's foot, his arms and legs wrapped in a sticky brown mess. Tears had a Chuunin with one arm around his waist and a Kunai across his throat, and was threatening him not to move.  The other Jounin had gone unconscious before he even got near Sweat.  The other Chuunin had been knocked-out by the blunt edge of Toil's Dai-Katana.  The secretary was in shock, her body frozen as if it were still holding the phone, her phone pinned to the wall behind her.

 "What happened here?" demanded Naruto.


	3. The Oni

DISCLAIMER:  The copyrights of the company who owns Naruto are duly acknowledged.  I know there may be some argument about Naruto and Hinata pairing up, or about punk rock existing, but think of this… it's sixty years.  A LOT can happen in sixty years.  Now keep reading, this just gets better and better.

**NARUTO: THE HYUUGA INTRIGUE**

Chapter 3: The Oni

"They said they were assassins, sir," The Chuunin held at knifepoint explained, stuttering, "So I threw a kunai. Then this girl grabbed me and the other three attacked.  It was over in seconds, sir."

Naruto scanned the room, looking into the eyes of each of the Oni.  Hinata rushed in, having heard the commotion.

"We were defending ourselves, Hokage-sama." explained Sweat.

"Byakugan them." Naruto commanded. Hinata did so.

"He's telling the truth, Naruto." She said.

"Release them," Naruto commanded, "they were acting on impulse."

Tears withdrew her kunai, and pushed the Chuunin away.  He tripped on his own feet and fell on his face. The bonds of clotted blood around the Jounin dissolved into dust, and Blood removed his foot.  Toil sheathed his Dai-Katana.  The receptionist snapped out of shock. "F-four shinobi… h-h-here to see you s-s-sir…" she stuttered.

The Hokage grinned devilishly. "In my office, please."

"I would like to start out by apologizing for my guards' behavior.  All four were very green and edgy.  Now I would like to get to know you guys, because I happen to have a very important task to appoint you to.  First off I would like to know each of your names and powers.  Let's start with you Toil, I know who you are."

            Toil spoke up. "As you know, I'm a non-chakra-user and I left here when Master Lee died.  Since I was skilled with swords, I decided to go around the world and learn every swordfighting style in the world.  I even traveled to the Barbarian lands to learn the Double-Sword Dervish style.  About two years ago, after I returned here, I decided that it would be a good idea to start a freelance ninja squad.  A little notoriety later, here we are."

            Blood spoke next. "I'm from a family with a strange bloodline ability.  Our charka system somehow generates extra blood, and we have the ability to use charka to exploit this blood in combat.  There are some very interesting things you can do with the stuff, liquid or coagulated.  It also adds a healing factor, because we can easily patch up wounds that would normally cause death by blood poisoning.  I grew up in the Country of Wave, and went to the Hidden city of Mist to receive general training as a shinobi, but they wouldn't take me because my bloodline was banned from the city a long time ago when people were superstitious. So I stole their scrolls and trained myself. Then Toil and Sweat found me when they were starting the Oni and I joined them."

"You remind me of me a little." Said Naruto. "What about you, in the suit?"

            "Well they call me Sweat," he responded, "but you can call me Kensuke or Ken, Hokage-sama.  I'm from the country of Wave as well, also from a taboo bloodline.  My family has the ability to perspire a neurotoxin similar to that of some poisonous frogs through our pores.  We use chakra to control this poison, and only use it during battle. You should know that about one in nine thousand is immune to this poison, besides our family.  Anyway, I received training from an Elite teacher hired by my family, which actually owns a powerful business, we manufacture air fresheners.  Anyway I went out to be a shinobi because business didn't interest me, and Toil and I met on a mission in a city in Water country.  We clicked, and we decided to form our own freelance squad."

Just then, Hinata, walked in with a tray. "Would anyone like some tea?" All five nodded. "And here is your Misu Ramen, Naruto." Naruto thanked her. She set down the tray on Naruto's desk and handed out teacups. Before she left, she whispered something in Naruto's ear, glancing at Tears. "Is that so?" Naruto exclaimed loudly, grinning at Tears.  Hinata then excused herself and left the room.

"Alright then. First I am going to explain your mission, and then I would like to speak to the young lady," Naruto said, grinning like a pervert, "In private."

The Oni looked at Tears. "Do whatever he says." Blood joked, nudging her. She slapped him across his face.

Naruto began, readying a Manila folder he had prepared.  "You four may have heard of the Hyuuga clan, who are very powerful around here."

"The Byakugan." Blood interrupted proudly.

"Yes." Naruto continued, "Don't interrupt me. I'm the Hokage, you know. Anyway, they have been having some problems recently." He explained the recent history of the Hyuuga clan and passed out a file on Kamui. "I am very worried that this man is going to cause trouble.  As a result, I am assigning the four of you to investigate Kamui, and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble. Also, since you guys seem to be involved in the punk scene, I want you to get to know this boy, and stick around with him."  Naruto passed another folder around, starting with Blood.

"Hey!" Blood exclaimed, seeing the picture, "This is that boy we met on the street!" The other three Oni leaned over to look. Sure enough, there was a picture of Hyuuga Tenshi, staring with that same proud smile.

"He's actually a good kid." Naruto commented. "I like his hair, it reminds me of the third Hokage's.  Anyhow, he's an upstanding member of Konoha's punk community. He has a well-renowned band, as well as having been a Chuunin since a young age.  I actually happen to like their music. Once in awhile I drop in on their concerts."

The four Oni were surprised. "The old geezer isn't that bad," they thought.

"So do you accept the mission?" Naruto asked. They accepted and discussed a price to be paid when Konoha was paid by the Sand or their allies.

            "I need you to protect him," Naruto continued, "make sure no attempts on his life succeed. This may be a mission that has constant action, or it may be the most uneventful ever. I don't know, but I do know that in a week, Kamui is returning.  You have until then to establish connections.  Don't tell anyone that you are on this mission.  In fact, I am going to have my guards on the lookout for you, and tell them that I reprimanded you for making trouble and turned you away.  Use force only if necessary, but don't you dare kill them.  This should also ingratiate you with the punks. Now I am going to have my guards make a scene about escorting you out. Good luck.  You may all leave except for Tears."

They left, and Tears remained, uncomfortable.


	4. Secrets and Tears

DISCLAIMER: The world of Naruto is not mine. However, since many of TV Tokyo's characters are now dead, the characters are. Except Naruto and Hinata so far. Get ready for a really freaky ending to this chapter, and then next chapter a fight scene! Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review!

**NARUTO: THE HYUUGA INTRIGUE**

Chapter 4- Secrets and Tears

Naruto, the Hokage, sat behind his desk facing Tears, of the Assassin Squad Oni. An uncomfortable silence fell across the room, and one could see the sun setting through the windows/doors to the balcony of the office. They were cracked open a bit, and one could hear the sounds of a still bustling city. People passing by, talking, walking, thinking about anyone but the Hokage.

"Hinata has informed me of something she saw in your chakra while she was using her Byakugan. Do you want to tell me what she found, or should I tell you?"

"Three separate chakras," Tears conceded, "Two very large ones and my own."

"I would like to show you something, Tears." Naruto stood up, and got in front of his desk. "Don't be alarmed, I'm not THAT much of a pervert." He reached down and began pulling up his long robe. Tears watched as he slowly drew up the garment, revealing white pants underneath the cloak, and stopping when the cloak exposed the large black seal left by the fourth Hokage's spell. He let the robe drop again. "I know that you and I are similar in some way." He said. "People who have been used as living seals are always treated as outcasts and all have a sad story. Let me tell you mine." He told her of how he had the chakra of the Ninetails sealed within him 72 years ago, and his whole life story until he became Hokage.

Since she was interested, Naruto also told Tears the story of Gaara of the Sand, another person who had been made into a living weapon by having an incarnate of Sand sealed with him. Like Naruto, Gaara regained sanity when people accepted him and also later became the Kazekage, a position which he still held. He and Naruto had become friends, although there was still a rivalry between the proud peoples of Wind and Fire.

"Now," concluded Naruto, "I would like to hear YOUR story."

"Alright then." Said Tears, "But please don't judge me. This was all a very long time ago." Naruto nodded, and Tears began her tale.

"Ten years ago, I was the daughter of a matriarch of a small village in the middle of nowhere in the west, in a little strip of a country nestled in between the Country of Wind and the Country of Earth. So isolated was this village that it had all of its own unique traditions and way of the Ninja, a vestige from a long ago time before the Shan realized how useless our village was. My two older sisters, twins, both possessed a genius for ninjutsu. They traveled far away to the Hidden Village of Sand to be trained. However, when they came back, they contracted a disease. Normally, it is survivable in our village, but my sisters had lost their immunity to it because of how long they had been away.

"As they lay there dying, twenty years old each and in the prime of their lives, my mother could not bear to see their incredible genius go to waste. She couldn't bear losing her two greatest daughters. My mother must have gone insane, because she decided to use an ancient and arcane spell that locked the soul of one person into the body of another, taking with it all the knowledge and power it had. Unlike your fourth hokage's spell, my mother's spell was considered heresy because it could be done without any damage to anyone, no price to pay for playing with life and death. Though my sisters begged and pleaded for my mother not to do it, she wouldn't listen. She chained me and my sisters to the wall of the castle dungeon, and performed the spell.

"Power surged through me, and the voices of my sisters echoed in my head. I was acting so strangely that I couldn't even go outside anymore. For a few years I was locked in the castle, going mad, seeing no-one but my mother, as my powers grew exponentially. Finally, I don't remember exactly what happened but somehow someone had spotted the marks on me, and leaked it out into town that my mother had used a forbidden spell on me. My mother wasn't able to deny it for very long, as the rumors spread and grew to be even more unbelievable than they already were. To some I had become a giant monster, to others I had been rendered comatose, to still others I performed arcane rituals on corpses in the graveyard at night. To this day I suspect that not all of the more ridiculous rumors are false, because I have no idea who I was then. I don't even remember my own name."

Here, Tears began to sob a bit. She continued.

"So, the rumors spread and caused dissent among the town. A group of men invaded the castle and apprehended my mother. She was given an unfair public trial in which I wasn't even allowed to testify, and sentenced to be burned at the stake, as was prescribed for necromancers. It was then that I snapped back to reality. I had to try to think rationally. So as my mother was tied to the stake and the fire was lit, I summoned a great thunderstorm to douse the fire. However, the village mages used magic to keep the fire going. As I became more and more frustrated, the storm became more and more intense, but still the fire would not go out. Suddenly, the fire surged, and my mother began to scream as the flames seared her flesh."

Tears began to cry uncontrollably. Naruto had to fight an urge to comfort her. A minute passed and she pulled herself together.

"Then I snapped. The power surged so great within me that my sisters' chakra leaked out of me and took the form of shadow replications, something that happens naturally for some reason when I get very angry. Together, we made a thirty seal spell that summoned a storm so big that it caused draughts all over the area for months. As my mother burned at the stake, a massive lightning storm scorched every living soul in the city, and turned every building into rubble. Any that escaped I hunted down and killed with my kunai."

Here, Tears began to cry uncontrollably again. Naruto offered a tissue and Tears accepted. After a minute, the crying abated, and she continued.

"That's pretty much it. After that happened, I snapped back to reality again and tried to put the pieces together again but I couldn't. I didn't need Ninja training because I had the skills, strength, and memories of both my ninja genius sisters. There was nothing to do except find work for myself doing the only thing I knew how to do. For seven or eight years I've been a freelance ninja. I worked for the Wind, the Waterfall, even the Lightning, as well as some screwed up Daimyos and businessmen."

"So you have three chakras, instead of two like me?" Naruto asked.

"That's right." Tears said, pulling together and going back to her old quiet self. There was so much more to be said, but little time to say it.

"Well, I liked talking to you," Naruto told Tears, "but I have to send you along. Can't keep your friends waiting, eh?"

"No, I guess not." She conceded.

"You can talk to me about this anytime," Naruto assured her, "if the ANBU aren't helpful enough you can come to me, okay?"

Tears was glad that Naruto had a soft spot for her. "Thank you for that, Hokage-sama," Tears said, bowing, "I'm glad I have someone to be open with."

"Now, my guards will forcefully eject you and your friends." Naruto boasted, smiling devilishly. The two laughed, and Tears left the room.

While Naruto and Tears were having their chat, the three guys were outside waiting. Blood was getting rather impatient because of the long talk that the Hokage and Tears were having.

"What are they doing in there, telling their life stories?" Blood wondered aloud. "What's taking so long?"

"What, you jealous?" Asked Toil, one fuzzy eyebrow raised.

"No way, man," denied Blood, "just want to make that show at six."

"He's jealous." Sweat confirmed.

"Very jealous." Toil agreed.

"Come on guys," Blood whined, "you're like little kids."

"Jealous, jealous, jealous," Toil teased in a singsong voice, "You're so jealous."

"Stop it, alright?" Blood was getting serious. The valves in his hands began to leak as they often did when Blood was getting mad.

"Come on, Blood," goaded Sweat, "We all know you have a huge crush on Tears. We see the way you always defend her when we pick on her but pick on her yourself, the way you're always trying to do stuff for her, always finding a way to stare into those big blue eyes, the way you always wince when you hear her crying at night."

Blood had to concede or else he would get in a fight he couldn't finish. "Okay guys, you got me."

"Look, man," Toil patted Blood's shoulder, "Do either of you have any idea of how old Naruto and his wife are?"

"I'd say he's in his fifties," Sweat guessed, "and his wife's in her sixties."

"I'll second that." Blood agreed.

"You're wrong." Toil said grinning, "They're both seventy two."

"WHOA!" exclaimed Blood.

"NO WAY!" exclaimed Sweat at the same time.

"It's true." Toil smiled smugly and leaned back against the wall. "So what would a guy that old be doing with Tears? Don't worry. Besides, he loves Hinata. A love formed by time is stronger than one formed by attraction. Remember that, Blood. That was what Lee-sensei told me about love."

There was a long pause. Blood stared down at the floor, rubbing his hand over his head. He needed to shave it soon before it started making his Mohawk look stupid. He made sure the spikes were still straight. He hadn't thought for an instant about an attraction between Tears and the Hokage. He just wished she would talk to him like she was talking to the Hokage. He was near the door, he could hear voices, they were talking. This was a girl that before this never had said more than a sentence to any of the other Oni over the course of three months as far as he knew.

Just then, Hinata came walking slowly down the hall, taking small steps. She was wearing a pink kimono with beautiful yellow flowers printed on it. It suddenly struck Blood how lovely she was for a woman old enough to be his grandmother. It wasn't an attraction, just the feeling he got when he looked at a sunset, or at a songbird, or a beautiful landscape painting. As he watched her come closer and closer, he thought about spending his life with someone, watching them grow old along with him. He wasn't even thinking of Tears, just an elderly woman in a kimono, and him in a robe, sitting by the fire and drinking tea. It was such a beautiful moment, Blood wanted to relish it forever.

"Excuse me," squeaked Hinata as she passed, touching her hands together at the fingertips. Her hands still looked young.

"Hinata-san," Blood addressed her.

"Yes?" she responded, stopping and turning her head to face Blood.

"What does it feel like to be with someone for as long as you and Naruto-sama have been together?"

Hinata blushed and turned her head away. "I…" she stuttered, and then she turned around to face Blood. "That's the sweetest question, I have ever been asked, Blood-kun, but I… I'm afraid I don't know how to answer it right now." She smiled, and somehow Blood could see her as a twelve year old girl, smiling at Naruto. She began to leave.

"Another thing, Hinata-san," Blood asked, "please tell me what strange thing you saw when you used Byakugan on Tears."

Hinata smiled. This time it was a coy smile that seemed a bit out of character for her. "You will have to ask her about that," said Hinata, turning around again and walking away, "She will probably answer your question this time."

Then Blood realized something. "How did you know…"

"When I used my Byakugan, I noticed that you restrained the guard heading for Tears, instead of either of your other team-mates, whom you knew better and were in a better position to defend."

Blood turned around to look at the other two ninja, both were just as shocked as he was. When he looked back, Hinata was gone. There was a long pause.

"Okay," said Sweat, "that was just damned weird."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the door opened, and out came Tears still chucking. Everyone gave her the most penetrating stare. It was the most awkward moment Tears had ever experienced. "What, was I that long?" she asked.

"Oh, no, no, no. Not at all." Everyone else said, starting at slightly different points.

"Cool," Said Tears. "let's talk."


	5. Outlaws

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything created for the Naruto series or manga. Nit that there are many Naruto related characters, but the universe of that manga was the basis for this experiment.   
Author's Note: Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long! I've had some things to sort out, some experiences to gain, things that I wanted to do before resuming the fanfic. Please encourage me by any means possible including reminding me when you see me, to those who know me personally. And now, without further ado...

**NARUTO: THE HYUUGA INTRIGUE**

Chapter 5: Outlaws

The Oni hadn't been talking long when four Shinobi in black jumpsuits and scary white and red animal masks appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"We're the four ANBU selected to deal with you," one said. He was wearing a weird puppy mask. "From time to time we'll be checking in on you to see how you're doing."

"When will we be able to see the Hokage again?" asked Blood, so that he didn't have to hear Tears ask.

"When he tells us you can." The ANBU weren't much for answers. "Remember that just now you were given a reprimand for causing trouble in the palace, right? And we're here to drag your asses out of the city. So, let's act the part. I want you guys to resist us, okay?"

Blood, Toil, Sweat, and Tears acknowledged. They began walking down the hall and into the elevator that went to the lobby. "Ready?" asked an ANBU as they approached the first floor. The four ANBU each grabbed an Oni by the collar. The elevator door opened, and the Oni were thrown out of the elevator. Each one fell on their face. The people in the lobby, many of whom had also seen the first fight, turned to watch.

As the four assassins squirmed on the ground, an ANBU grabbed Tears by her hair and dragged her out of the building, as she writhed and screamed in pain. Blood was extremely upset by this, and as his ANBU reached down to grab his collar, Blood flipped over and shot her with a squirt of blood in the eyes of her mask. As she was stumbling back Blood quickly got up and knocked the ANBU in the jaw, then made a break after Tears.

Meanwhile, Sweat's ANBU had picked him up and had him in a hold.

"Hope you have a gasmask in there," Sweat told him, releasing a dose of noxious poison through the sweat glands in his neck. The ANBU stepped back, disoriented and leaned against the wall. He spasmed, and slumped down unconscious. Toil's ANBU was the leader. Toil tripped him, and got up, drawing his regular kitana. The ANBU leader got up also, facing him. Sweat tried to come from behind got up also, facing him. Sweat tried to come from behind, throwing some shuriken, but the ANBU caught all of them and threw at him two things that had a strand of metal rope attached to a metal hook on each end. One wrapped around Sweat's arms and chest, another wrapped around his legs, and the hooks dug into the rope, locking it in place. As Sweat struggled, Toil attacked using his mad bushido skills, but each time the ANBU batted the slash away from below I with his forearm. Finally, Toil slashed down from above. The ANBU blocked that with his left hand and grabbed Toil's left arm with his right, and used the momentum to throw him into the wall. He then walked over and handcuffed Toil. Sweat's ANBU wasn't getting up and Blood's ANBU had pursued, so Toil's ANBU dragged both outside. The crowd in the lobby stared in shock.

Outside, people crowded around as Tears was being dragged kicking and screaming, by her short hair. Blood charged from behind, his ANBU in hot pursuit, and decked Tears' ANBU in the back of his head. He dropped Tears and stumbled forward. Blood grabbed him and threw him down on the ground, turned him face up and straddled his chest. Tears tripped Blood's guard, to buy him some time, but her scalp hurt too much for her to get up. Blood punched Tears' guard in the face once for each word as he screamed "NEVER TOUCH THAT GIRL AGAIN!" Blood's guard managed to get up and grab him, hand cuffing him, but that didn't stop him from drop-kicking Tears' guard. Blood's guard tried to calm him down, saying, "We said resist us, not kill us!" as she dragged Blood away. He also hand cuffed Tears, apologizing for his partner.

Some Jounin and Chuunin guards had been alerted, and they tried to disperse the crowd, but a few punky kids were still sticking around. "It looks like a riot is about to start," the Hokage said, watching from his balcony. "The Oni are pretty good. They managed to take down two ANBU. They're at least Jounin level if they aren't holding back." Downstairs, the leader of the four ANBU was dragging Toil and Sweat outside. As the ANBU put paralyzing spells on the Oni, an onlooker demanded "What did these guys do?"

"They were starting trouble in the palace," answered the ANBU leader. The air was tense. The crowd of all sorts of people stared. There were punky kids among them, and none of them knew what to do. They had listened to some music about punks being oppressed but this was the first time they had actually seen it happen, or thought they saw it happen. Filled with rage, they could only watch as the ANBU led their prisoners out of the city gates. The Oni were led out of the gate and uncuffed, then the ANBU left and the gates shut. Now the punks had something to talk about.

After about half an hour, Toil could move his limbs enough to stand up. He still had a pins and needles sensation in his fingers, but that would go away soon. It hadn't been a problem, just a mid-level paralyze technique. Toil's legs wobbled as he shifted his weight upon them, but he was able to stand. He watched the others trying to get up. Blood had already gotten up, and Tears was staggering a bit, but remaining upright. Sweat was taking the longest, still kneeling, so Blood reached a hand down to help him out. Sweat took his hand, and pulled himself to his feet. Toil walked over and offered his hand, but Sweat refused. "I got it, I got it," he assured Toil, then his knees buckled again. He tried again and this time he was able to stand on his own.

"Okay guys," Toil began, "So what are we going to do now?"

"You're the leader," Sweat said, "what do you think?"

"Just being democratic," Toil explained. "Anyway there's only one thing to do…"

"Get back into the city somehow," Tears interrupted, "but how? The guards won't let us in, and we can't just jump the wall. Even though we could do it the guards would spot us."

Toil paused, looking pensive. "If I'm correct there's an emergency bunker inside the cliff of Hokages which has an exit out in the woods behind the city. My mother told me about being evacuated through there as kids. It's been used only a couple times, so there should be no guards inside. It should lead into the sewers."

"Sounds good," remarked Sweat, "but where in the woods would it be?"

"We'd follow the wall to our left," Toil explained, "Then we'd ascend the hill that the Hokages' faces are carved into, and it shouldn't be that far from the edge of the cliff."

"We could just climb down the cliff," Blood boldly suggested.

Toil shook his head. "We'd be easy to notice, and plus it's higher than it looks. I've been up there several times. It's better to be safe than sorry."

The four mercenaries took off into the trees, jumping in the low branches so they wouldn't be seen, and eventually came to a clearing near the summit of the hill. In the center of the clearing was a metal trapdoor that looked as if it couldn't be opened except by the most powerful explosives, nothing near what the Oni had.

"Now what?" asked Blood.

Tears smiled and said "We open it." She walked up to the trapdoor and, grasping the handle, gave the door a little tug and swung it open effortlessly as the others watched in shock.

"It wasn't locked," Tears explained, "Because Hokage-sama had to leave us a way in."

The others followed her inside and Toil, the last one in, closed the door and set its elaborate locking system. The clang of the closing lock reverberated down the long, dimly lit stairwell, fading to reveal the distant sound of dripping water. As Toil's eyes adjusted, he began to descend along with the others. There was room for only one to descend at a time, so Tears took the lead down the steps and he and the others followed, gripping the cold handrails that lined the walls. Eventually they came to the bottom, and opened another room that let out into several passageways. There were signs to follow that directed to the exits, because it was easy to get lost in the honeycomb of rooms and corridors that made up the emergency shelter. The place was pretty much empty except for some tables that had been left there, and some graffiti scrawled here and there.

However in the corner of a passageway by the door to a stairwell they had come out of, a small object caught Toil's eye. He crouched and picked it up, holding it up to the light. It had once been a stuffed rabbit, left there by a child long ago, perhaps even during the attack of the Sound ninja led by the evil Orochimaru, a traitor to Konoha. Now the bunny smelled of must, and its surface was eaten away so badly that Toil's fingers broke right through its fur and stuffing spilled out. Tears, Blood and Sweat were waiting for him, and he placed the stuffed animal back where he had found it. Its owner was likely dead now, and it would soon be dust.

Another staircase led to an exit to downtown Konoha.


End file.
